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Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#221

Post by jrockway »

Native desktop apps are great.

The reason that people don't write them is because users aren't on "the desktop". "The desktop" is split between OS X and Windows, and your Windows-app-compiled-for-Mac is going to annoy Mac users and your Mac-app-compiled-for-Windows is going to annoy Windows users. Then you realize that most users of computing devices actually just use their phone for everything, and your desktop app can't run on those. Then you realize that phones are split between Android and iOS, and there is the same problem there -- Android users won't like your iOS UI, and iOS users won't like your Android UI. Then there are tablets.

Meanwhile, your web app may not be as good as native apps, but at least you don't have to write it 6 times.

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#222

Post by mmmeff »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #179
burke wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Electron hater, I’m constantly surprised at just how much VS Code doesn’t suck.

The reason for this, I think, is developers of VS Code really understand the problem field in this case, as they are making the tool for themselves. Also, there's probably a ton of resources involved.

Interesting past thread on Atom's performance struggles and how they got outplayed by the VSCode team: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14140421

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#223

Post by gundmc »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #195
alasdair_ wrote: post #129

There are still a lot of fields where performance matters. This is especially true with apps that need low latency, like most games. Something like Stadia may be fine for a casual gamer but it still feels laggy to many, especially those used to gaming at 144Hz+ with almost zero input lag and gsync. VR is another area where native desktop is still superior. Then there is anything that is dealing with a lot of local da…

Also from a security standpoint, it seems to me that having all apps work in the browser is creating single points of failure.

Can you elaborate on the security considerations of this? It seems like you could just as easily say it's more secure because it reduces the attack surface to a well-tested program with mature sandboxing.

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#224

Post by CharlesW »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #191
robin_reala wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Figma is pretty much replacing all web design applications precisely because it’s leveraging web tech for collaboration on a single document at the same time.

I think we can safely exclude 'collaborative web design' applications from the set of hardcore tools not gaining much from being implemented as web apps for understandable reasons.

And yet it is a hardcore tool, and does gain a lot from being implemented as a web app. Another example might serve your point better.

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#225

Post by kokizzu »

marclave wrote: post #218
dmitrybrant wrote: post #217

I specialize in data recovery / digital forensics tools, which require very low-level disk access to be able to read physical media at the block level. I doubt there will ever be an HTML5 standard for low-level disk access. But aside from my particular specialty, I also prefer any other software I use to be fully native. I'm surprised that's such a controversial thing to ask for these days. All I ask is so precious l…

Have you looked into webassembly and how browsers give access to filesystems[1], there could be hope for a future of high performant filesystem access. [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FileSystem

that's not low level disk access

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#226

Post by desc »

gundmc wrote: post #223
SubiculumCode wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also from a security standpoint, it seems to me that having all apps work in the browser is creating single points of failure.

Can you elaborate on the security considerations of this? It seems like you could just as easily say it's more secure because it reduces the attack surface to a well-tested program with mature sandboxing.

You mean like the OS is supposed to be?

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#227

Post by jfkebwjsbx »

alasdair_ wrote: post #129

There are still a lot of fields where performance matters. This is especially true with apps that need low latency, like most games. Something like Stadia may be fine for a casual gamer but it still feels laggy to many, especially those used to gaming at 144Hz+ with almost zero input lag and gsync. VR is another area where native desktop is still superior. Then there is anything that is dealing with a lot of local da…

Stadia's games do not run in a browser.

The client you use to interact with the stream is a web page, yes, but the actual game running in their servers is a native Linux application.

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#228

Post by whb07 »

kokizzu wrote: post #225
marclave wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you looked into webassembly and how browsers give access to filesystems[1], there could be hope for a future of high performant filesystem access. [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/FileSystem

that's not low level disk access

Can you explain how it isn’t?

Re: Ask HN: Is there still a place for native desktop apps?

#230

Post by Hackbraten »

davinci26 wrote: post #187

Controversial opinion: Yes, native desktop apps are the future. Msft is pushing on react-native-windows and macOS has project catalyst. React-native is making cross-platforms native apps viable. Apps are way more immersive than the browser and it allows the developer to give a gamification experience.

What do you mean by “gamification experience?”
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